Editor’s Note: Hitisha Dadlani is a member of the TWA Editorial Board and a contributing author of previous TWA articles.

The UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) is an important nexus of science, politics, and media. It brings together national leaders and institutions (called parties) to tackle the challenges of climate change. The central issue at COP is energy. The discussions involve difficult decisions being made around the energy trilemma encapsulating three crucial challenges of our global energy system and its many subsystems: accessibility (or affordability), security, and environmental sustainability.

Part one of this three-part series focuses on the historical development in negotiating, diplomacy, and consensus building over the first 10 years of COP’s history from 1995 to 2004.

1995: The first COP (COP1) took place in Berlin. It was indeed historic as the city was once divided into East Germany and West Germany. One hundred seventeen parties and 53 observer states attended. This conference set the stage for the question, “Is global fossil fuel use and pollution setting us on a path to Venus (greenhouse rich) with our own climate?” Negotiations and commitments were applicable to developed and industrialized countries, with hesitance from the US, Canada, Japan, Russia, and Australia. Joint implementation was piloted to reduce the burden on developing nations, with agreements to submit national communications on measures to limit emissions.

1996: COP2 took place in Geneva. One hundred forty-seven parties and 14 observer states attended. The need for climate change actions was finally accepted. The US and others continued to argue that without participation from developing countries, trade competitiveness would be affected.

COP2 discussed the “Geneva Ministerial Declaration,” in which parties agreed to set binding quantity targets to limit emissions by industrialized countries. Supported by the US, with the caveat that progress toward international emissions trading is required. Middle Eastern countries and the Russian Federation criticized the declaration as biased and misleading. The parties noted the declaration but did not adopt it.

1997: COP3 took place in Kyoto. One hundred fifty-five parties and six observer states attended. As COP2 couldn’t commit to legally binding emission targets, COP3 was anticipated to feature the first negotiated COP deal.

During COP3, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, the first legally binding international treaty requiring industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Legally binding targets limited to developed nations only created opposition, particularly from the US, which ultimately did not sign the agreement. The negotiated deal was to reduce emissions by 5.2% below the 1990 level for the period 2008–2012. Joint implementation would help developed countries generate credits by financing clean development and emission-reduction projects in developing countries. An international trading mechanism was planned to facilitate the buying and selling of excess emissions in industrialized countries.

1998: The COP4 took place in Buenos Aires with 150 parties and seven observer states attending. The conference aimed to define the details of implementing the Kyoto Protocol. Even though it began with the longstanding debate over developed vs. developing countries’ participation, Argentina, as the host developing country, committed to the intent of a binding target.

The summit produced the “Buenos Aires Action Plan”, a 2-year plan on emission trading, joint implementation and clean development mechanisms, rules for compliance with targets, the development and transfer of clean technologies to developing countries, and considerations of the adverse impacts of climate change and mitigation measures.

1999: COP5 took place in Bonn, Germany, with 165 parties and three observer states in attendance. This was a technical summit at which developed nations reported detailed actions taken, including domestic policy changes, tax reform, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and domestic emissions trading. It also highlighted that the implementation posed significant social and economic hurdles. Developing nations reported that sustainable development plans were designed to limit emissions. Negotiations centered on the challenges of clean technology transfer and capacity-building in developing countries.

2000: COP6 took place in The Hague, Netherlands and later Bonn, Germany. One hundred seventy-six parties and four observer states were present. There was conflict over the use of the flexibility program to meet emission targets without real emission reductions by the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Russia, and the EU strongly opposed it, leading to a heated end in The Hague.

Following negotiations in Bonn, all nations except the US signed the Kyoto Protocol. The agreement included emission trading, carbon sinks, the clean development mechanism, and joint implementation.  

2001: COP7 took place in Marrakech, Morocco, with 170 parties and two observer states present. There were breakthroughs at COP6, yet there remained a lack of ambition and countries willing to make the emission reductions legally binding.

After sufficient concessions on the flexibility program and carbon sinks, an agreement was reached on the operationalization of the Kyoto Protocol amid the continued US withdrawal. This agreement was called the Marrakech Accords, a rulebook on accounting, inclusions, and penalties for noncompliance or enforcement mechanisms, a revision of the COP6 agreement.

2002: COP8 took place in New Delhi with 167 parties and three observer states attended. With the US refusing to join and Russia delaying the decision while the US held back, ratification accounted for 55% of the developed world’s emissions. Therefore, the summit was themed around sustainable development in the developing world.

There were no concrete outcomes regarding the direct assistance of developed countries to the developing world or the Kyoto Phase 2 targets for developing countries. Unexpectedly, the US undermined COP negotiations by engaging in bilateral deals with developing countries and urged them to decide their own responses to climate change.

2003: COP9 took place in Milan with 166 parties and 4 observer states attending. The EU remained enthusiastic about the protocol despite the US and Russia not being on board. It began the process of implementing the EU Emissions Trading System. The COP lacked significant agreements on implementing the Kyoto Protocol and on providing funds to developing nations for capacity building.

2004: COP10 took place in Buenos Aires with 167 parties and two observer states attending. Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol before COP10. Negotiations turned again to the role of the developing world in the Clean Development Fund and in capacity building, deemed insufficient, particularly by the US.

Around the time of COP10, the UN Environment Program highlighted that climate change-related damage cost the developing world $90 billion a year in 2004. The funds established at previous COPs for adaptation and sustainable development were in the hundreds of millions, rather than billions. The EU announced that it would contribute $360 million annually to sustainable development. COP10 stalled while trying to look ahead to a post-2012 plan under the Kyoto Protocol, devolving into what many described as “talks about talks.” The US proposed a draft for a single seminar, while developing countries were hesitant because it emphasized new commitments and expected additional input from them. COP10 also empowered a bottom-up approach (from nations to states to cities to the public), where people can facilitate change.

After 10 COP summits, the Kyoto Protocol had yet to be ratified by a sufficient proportion of developed-world emitters. It had not yet come into force, while also improving current climate efforts and building the developing world’s capacity for sustainability.

The next two articles in this series will cover the major developments in the climate world through the COPs and how the world progressed for climate change mitigation.